Well, WON, after buttoning up my spats, adjusting my pince-nez and dusting off my beaver top hat, I have to confess that I use 'employe' to refer to one male, 'employes' for two or more males, employee' for one female, and 'employees' for two or more females or two or more of both genders. A European would probably use the masculine version for mixed gender, but I use the feminine because it's more familiar to most people than the masculine, which seems to be entirely unfamilar to you. Yet it has not been that long since it was downright incorrect to refer to a man as an employee.